From Wall to Book
From wall to book, a journey of stepping out in faith. It started because I began meeting with sixth grade prayer committees in a small kitchen that was no longer being frequently used at our school. I began to put the information I was teaching them about prayer on a white board. As is so often true, one thing led to another and pretty soon the walls and cupboards were covered in prayers.
I began inviting teachers and parents to feel welcome to come and “pray the walls.” Many times, individual ones would say to me, “You should publish a book.” At first, I would smile and nod, dismissing the idea in my head, because after all I don’t know anything about publishing a book. Slowly, it began to dawn on me that the Lord might be trying to tell me something.
So, I stood back and looked at the walls to consider what might be publishable. One wall contained the scripture prayers for character traits I had written to coordinate with our efforts to encourage the development of godly character in our students. I counted them up and there were 31, one for each day of a month. Since I don’t believe in coincidences, I took a deep breath and prayed “Ok Lord, I’ll do some research on publishing a book.”
Sure enough, Proven Character: Praying for Our Children was born and along the way some precious memories. For instance, watching my current sixth grade prayer committee poring over the three book cover options discussing which one best suited the content of the book and what changes they would make, if any.
I experienced a special connection and time with my cousins who provided me with the professional quality photo for the back cover.
Then, my first proof arrived at the same time the first-grade students I assist were finishing their books for the annual Young Authors and Artists Fair. We had quite a discussion and enjoyed discovering that my book and their books all had the same parts; cover, title page, dedication, table of contents, introduction, content, and author pages. Our books required hard work and perseverance, but oh the joy of sharing them at the end.
The journey has had me out of my comfort zone, but never out of God’s faithful provision each step of the way. From wall to book, from book to …? Now isn’t that an interesting question? The adventure continues …